Chapter 4 Brief description of the plot:
The chapter starts off with Jurgis at work and he is waiting for the boss to call him in. The boss is waiting for him, and because of the language barrier the two are waiting hours for each other. When the boss eventually finds Jurgis waiting outside he yells at him for the misunderstanding. Sinclair goes on to describing the other character’s jobs that they have found and what their wages are. For example, Marija is working towards becoming a can painter with a salary of $2.00 a day versus Jurgis’s 17.5 cents an hour. The important aspect of this chapter appears little bit after this section when a man came to their home and was saying how he works for this one company that has mass produced homes that are affordable and will free people from the prison of renting and paying rent. To everyone, the idea sounds like something they should go for because owning a house meant that they would no longer have to pay rent, only the first few payments would be difficult, but after that the house would be theirs. Jokubas Szedvilas argued against buying a house and said that it was robbery. When they visit their possible soon to be home, they are disappointed because it did not reflect the ad, but they were impressed with some of its features such as running water in the kitchen. After much dispute, Ona and Teta went to go and see if they would buy the house. They would only decide to do so after talking to the agent. Once again the language barrier presented a problem. Due to the confusion on behalf of the translator, Jokubas, Teta eventually accepted the agent’s offer only to be disappointed and upset with the arrangement of pay and how it would take 9 years to pay off. When they return home Jurgis is upset and says he is going to murder the agent. Jurgis returns home not a murderer because he learns that the deal was a deal and the agent did not make anything up or fool anyone. The chapter closes with Ona and Teta sobbing themselves to sleep.
Characters in the Chapter:
Jurgis
Jonas
Marija Berczynskas
Teta Elizbieta
Stanislovas
Ona
Dede Antanas
Grandfather Anthony
Jokubas Szedvilas
Notable passages (including page number):
“Why pay rent?”…“which are now occupied by happy families,” (pg 44)
“If they paid rent…to pay for the rest of their lives,” (pg 45)
“They tried to shut their eyes to other defects,” (pg 47)
“It was all robbery for a poor man,” (pg 48)
Brief description of the plot:
The chapter starts off with Jurgis at work and he is waiting for the boss to call him in. The boss is waiting for him, and because of the language barrier the two are waiting hours for each other. When the boss eventually finds Jurgis waiting outside he yells at him for the misunderstanding. Sinclair goes on to describing the other character’s jobs that they have found and what their wages are. For example, Marija is working towards becoming a can painter with a salary of $2.00 a day versus Jurgis’s 17.5 cents an hour. The important aspect of this chapter appears little bit after this section when a man came to their home and was saying how he works for this one company that has mass produced homes that are affordable and will free people from the prison of renting and paying rent. To everyone, the idea sounds like something they should go for because owning a house meant that they would no longer have to pay rent, only the first few payments would be difficult, but after that the house would be theirs. Jokubas Szedvilas argued against buying a house and said that it was robbery. When they visit their possible soon to be home, they are disappointed because it did not reflect the ad, but they were impressed with some of its features such as running water in the kitchen. After much dispute, Ona and Teta went to go and see if they would buy the house. They would only decide to do so after talking to the agent. Once again the language barrier presented a problem. Due to the confusion on behalf of the translator, Jokubas, Teta eventually accepted the agent’s offer only to be disappointed and upset with the arrangement of pay and how it would take 9 years to pay off. When they return home Jurgis is upset and says he is going to murder the agent. Jurgis returns home not a murderer because he learns that the deal was a deal and the agent did not make anything up or fool anyone. The chapter closes with Ona and Teta sobbing themselves to sleep.
Characters in the Chapter:
Jurgis
Jonas
Marija Berczynskas
Teta Elizbieta
Stanislovas
Ona
Dede Antanas
Grandfather Anthony
Jokubas Szedvilas
Notable passages (including page number):
“Why pay rent?”…“which are now occupied by happy families,” (pg 44)
“If they paid rent…to pay for the rest of their lives,” (pg 45)
“They tried to shut their eyes to other defects,” (pg 47)
“It was all robbery for a poor man,” (pg 48)